Dustin Poirier was set to make the walk to the octagon for the final time at UFC 318 on Saturday, taking on Max Holloway in the third fight of a trilogy he was up 2-0 in.
Storybook endings rarely come in MMA, but Poirier had a chance for just that. Fighting at home in Louisiana, with a second chance to claim the UFC’s “BMF” belt after previously coming up short against Justin Gaethje.
Holloway, meanwhile, had a chance to avenge a pair of career losses and become the first man to defend the BMF title. Holloway had been defeated by Poirier in the Hawaiian’s UFC debut, then lost a rematch years later for an interim lightweight belt. After being knocked out by Ilia Topuria, “Blessed” was making another move to 155lbs, and was still capable of hanging with the best fighters regardless of the weight being 145 or 155.
Our picks are in for Saturday’s UFC 318 – see below for our predictions.
| Writer / Fight | Johnson vs. Zellhuber | Ige vs. Pitbull | Holland vs. Rodriguez | Costa vs. Kopylov | Holloway vs. Poirier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Law (78-43) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Alex Behunin (74-42) | | |  | | |
| Mathis Desjardins (72-43) | | | | | |
| Brett Cagle (69-46) | | | | | |
| Chris Prawdzik (62-41) | |  | | |  |
| Jay Anderson (72-49) | | | |  | |
| Ryan Quinn (8-5) | | | | | |
| Patrick Danaa (9-8) | | | | | |
| Cade Morehouse (16-19) | | | | | |
Apologies, Michael Johnson. Despite being a “Menace” and a veteran of the UFC, all nine writers responding are siding with youth over experience in the UFC 318 card opener. That means we have Daniel Zellhuber as a lock to take home the W.
That was the only lock of the night, though Kevin Holland was a close second, a heavy favorite to defeat Daniel Rodriguez in a welterweight bout third in on the card.
Roman Kopylov has the edge over Paulo Costa with our crew, perhaps a sign of how far the former title challenger’s stock has fallen. And in the main event, Dustin Poirier is a solid favorite to get the happy ending, claim gold, and finish out his career in style.
